Idaho is scheduled to execute Paul Rhoades tomorrow. This would be the first execution in Idaho in 17 years. It would be the fourth execution in the United States this week – a bloody week in terms of state executions.

He was convicted of the murders of school teacher Susan Michelbacher and convenience store clerks Stacy Baldwin and Nolan Haddon. There appears no question of his guilt. His petition to commute his sentence from death to life imprisonment begins, “Three people are dead because of me.”

I grieve for Susan Michelbacher, Stacy Baldwin, and Nolan Haddon. I grieve for all who love them.

Still I say, “Not in my name.” Not in my name, shall the state (any one of the United States) kill. Not in my name shall we act to prevent any possibility of reform. Not in my name shall we exact vengeance, taking an eye for an eye and stumbling blindly into the future.